Brewer-Clifton Ampelos Vineyard Pinot Noir, Sta Rita Hills, USA

克林頓安珀園黑皮諾干紅葡萄酒

點擊次數：2903

The last vintage that Greg and Steve will be making of this wine as they focus more on their own estate vineyards, the 2011 Pinot Noir Ampelos is a rich, layered effort that has ripe dark berry, cocoa, warm spices and autumn leaf-like qualities all emerging from the glass. This medium-bodied effort has firm underlying structure and solid focus through the finish and it should age nicely on its overall balance. Drink 2015-2021. A benchmark estate in the Santa Rita Hills, these first rate efforts are made by Steve Clifton and Greg Brewer. The wines are all handled identically in the cellar, so what you get is exactly what the vineyard delivers. In addition, this estate is moving to only estate-farmed vineyards, with Gnesa, Machado, 3-D and Hapgood being the only single-vineyard releases going forward. These 2011s are fantastic and should not be missed! Tel. (805) 735-9184; www.brewerclifton.com

Initially quite reticent, the 2010 Pinot Noir Ampelos comes across as slightly compact and shut down. There is an element of racy wildness that runs through the fruit in this firm Pinot. It will be interesting to see if the Ampelos softens up with further time in bottle. Today, it is a bit of a brute. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2018. Steve Clifton describes the 2010 harvest as 2-3 weeks later than normal. The Pinots were brought in during the second and third weeks of September, in between the heat spikes, while the Chardonnays were harvested later, once temperatures cooled off . The 2010s are beautiful, transparent wines that capture the essence of the vintage and their respective sites. The single-vineyard wines can be hard to track down, but to tell the truth, I am increasingly drawn to the straight appellation Chardonnay and Pinot, as they are less expensive, relatively easy to find and full of personality. Tel. (805) 735-9184; www.brewerclifton.com

The 2009 Pinot Noir Ampelos comes across as quite energetic and tightly wound. Dark cherries, plums, sweet spices and menthol emerge, but only with great reluctance. Sweet floral notes and licorice appear later, adding complexity and nuance to the red fruit. There is marvelous integrity in the glass; the only thing needed is time. Anticipated maturity: 2014-2021. No one has done more to carry the banner for the Santa Rita Hills than Greg Brewer and Steve Clifton. Both together at Brewer-Clifton and separately in their other projects, Brewer and Clifton consistently deliver delicious wines that are also deeply thought provoking with regards to the potential these vineyard sites hold. The Pinots in particular are compelling. The 2009 Pinots saw a seven day cold soak and fermentations that lasted a total of 35-40 days, with 100% stems. Tel. (805) 735-9184; Fax (805) 735-9185; www.brewerclifton.com

The dark plum/ruby-colored 2008 Pinot Noir Ampelos, which comes from a tiny 1.7-acre parcel, is extraordinary. Sweet raspberry, blueberry, and boysenberry notes interwoven with hints of spring flowers and loamy soil are followed by a full-bodied, beautifully textured, sumptuously styled wine that is fabulously concentrated, silky smooth, and truly world-class. It is one of their bigger wines in terms of alcohol (15.2%), but that’s buried beneath the complexity and richness of this extraordinary Pinot Noir. It should drink nicely for 10-12+ years. Greg Brewer and Steve Clifton continue to follow a strict philosophy of only using grapes from cool-climate Santa Rita Hills vineyards. Additionally, they have reduced what was a very tiny percentage of new oak to zero, as they prefer the vineyard sites and vintage character to be showcased without any cosmetic makeup. All of these Chardonnays (unlike Greg Brewer’s project, called Diatom) are put through full malolactic fermentation and bottled without filtration. The 2008s are elegant, tightly coiled Chardonnays with full flavor, and seem to have plenty of up-side. Their wines are extremely long-lived by California standards, with their 2000 Chardonnays still remarkably young, and their 2000 Pinot Noirs all seeming to have another decade of aging ability. However, 2000 was not nearly the quality vintage that recent years have been in the Santa Rita Hills. Now luckily, to introduce their philosophy of winemaking and singular style of wines to more consumers, they are producing generic Santa Rita Hills version of both the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. This makes sense, since they are not only high-quality wines, but are also larger production items that many consumers will be able to find. These 2008 Pinots had a little new oak, but that will be abolished completely as the winemakers move to old, completely neutral French oak for the maturation process. The one singular characteristic of Brewer Clifton Pinot Noirs is that they continue to use 100% whole clusters/stems. I am not a fan of stems in Pinot Noirs, but Brewer Clifton proves that if done properly, complex, ageworthy Pinots can be produced. Tel. (805) 735-9184; Fax (805) 735-9185